The present invention relates to communication devices and methods for hearing impaired persons and more specifically to concepts related to helping a hearing impaired person maintain a contact list and to personally customize the tone of voice messages broadcast by a communication device used by the hearing impaired person.
Special phones which are referred to hereinafter as assisted user devices have been developed that provide captioning services to deaf or partially hearing impaired persons (hereinafter “assisted users”). To this end, when a hearing user and an assisted user are participating in a voice telephone call, when the hearing user speaks, the hearing user's voice is transmitted to a remote relay where the hearing user's voice is translated into text, often with the aid of a call assistant or relay operator. The text is transmitted to the assisted user's device where the text is displayed via a device display for the assisted user to view, generally at the same time that the hearing user's voice is broadcast via a device speaker to the assisted user to hear. Transmission of voice and text can be along various types of communication links including conventional telephone lines, the internet or some other type of communication network, wirelessly, etc. Exemplary assisted user devices and relay systems are well known in the art. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 6,603,835 entitled “System For Text Assisted Telephony” which issued on Aug. 5, 2003 and which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. While relay assisted user devices have proven extremely useful to hearing impaired persons, such devices still have several shortcomings.
One shortcoming associated with assisted user devices is related to maintaining up-to-date contact information on the device. At least some assisted user devices have the ability to store contact information for expediting access to phone numbers and other information and for expediting the process of placing calls to others. Here, in many cases, a phone number dialing keyboard serves double duty as a tool to enter contact information including contact names, phone and other numbers, e-mail addresses and perhaps other information. In some cases a full QWERTY keyboard may be provided for entering contact information. To initiate a call to a contact from a previously entered contact list, some type of input device is provided for scrolling through or otherwise searching for a specific contact and to place a call to a selected contact via the assisted user's device.
While device stored contact information has proven very useful in assisted user devices when used, the processes for entering contact information have often proven to be an impediment to use. To this end, double duty data input components (e.g., a dialing pad) on some assisted user devices often are not intuitive to use. Even where an assisted user's device includes a full QWERTY keyboard for information entry, steps required for entering contact information are often complex and/or confusing. Where a tool is not intuitive, users routinely forego use of the tool and the advantages associated therewith.
Many people now use computers to maintain extensive contact information for business and personal associates. For instance, Microsoft Outlook is one popular software program that is used by many computer users to maintain contact information. One advantage associated with maintaining contact information via a computer is that computers include a full QWERTY keyboard and a large display for entering contact information.
In addition to maintaining contact information via a computer, many smart phone and other communication devices today provide the ability for a device user to store and access contact information including names, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, regular addresses, pictures, etc., for virtually thousands of people. In many cases a smart phone user is also a computer user. Most phone and computer users want access to the same contact information via their computer and their smart phone. For this reason, systems have been developed whereby a phone and a computer can be linked to the same contact storing account so that contact information can be automatically synchronized between a smart phone and a computer.
While automated synchronization between smart phone and computer contact information is useful if an assisted user has and regularly uses a computer, many assisted users do not regularly use a computer and, if they do use a computer, may not use software on the computer to store contact information. In this regard, many hearing impaired persons are elderly, having lost a portion of their hearing capability over time. Elderly people often do not keep up with technological advances and therefore many are uncomfortable with using software including contact storing software. Thus, even if contact information on an assisted user's device and a computer were to be synchronized, in many cases an assisted user would not take advantage of the synchronizing function or maintaining a complete contact list and instead would forego advantages associated with an up-to-date list.
Another shortcoming associated with assisted user devices is related to customizing audio tone parameters for specific assisted users. It has been recognized that people that experience hearing loss do not all experience hearing loss in the same way. Thus, for instance, one assisted user may experience loss of hearing at high frequencies while another experiences loss at lower frequencies and a third may experience impaired hearing at multiple frequencies. Because assisted users experience hearing loss differently, not surprisingly communication devices used by assisted users have been developed that enable a user to adjust frequency responses or tone differently to accommodate individual user preferences. In other words, the devices enable a user to increase or decrease bass, increase or decrease treble, etc.
To adjust tone, manual equalizer type controls, either mechanical or virtual on a display, have been provided on assisted user devices. In known cases an equalizer feature may include five or more independently selectable slider buttons or virtual icons (hereinafter “slider controls”), each corresponding to a different frequency within the human hearing range. Each slider control is typically arranged along a vertical slide column where vertical positions along the slide column correspond to different decibel values along a range. By setting the slider controls at different locations along the ranges, the tone of sounds generated by an assisted user's device is customized.
Where devices have controls such as equalizers for customizing tone, typically parameters are set during a phone call. For instance, while an assisted user is carrying on a conversation with a hearing user via the assisted user's device, the assisted user accesses the equalizer controls and adjusts those controls until the user perceives that a tone is optimized (e.g., that the user hears best with a set of slider control settings). After the equalizer settings are set, the settings remain set during subsequent calls unless the assisted user resets the settings during a subsequent call. While this solution can be used, the requirement to set equalizer settings during a call in order to hear the effects of the settings is burdensome as it requires the assisted user to adjust around with settings during a conversation. In many cases an assisted user may completely miss a portion of a conversation while simultaneously setting slider controls or may mis-perceive what was said by a hearing user.
In addition, often times voice messages from a hearing user during a call may not be optimized for setting tone. To this end, a specific hearing user may have an unusual voice or may speak in a low or high volume which is out of the ordinary. Here, if an assisted user sets tone or other audio parameters using an unusual voice or under odd circumstances, the settings will likely be less than optimal during conversations with other hearing users or when the odd circumstances are not present (e.g., when a hearing user speaks in a normal volume range).